Take Two (The Jilted Bride #1)(11)

I heard footsteps and ran into the kitchen. I slid into what appeared to be a pantry.

Why do they need a pantry?

When I was certain no one was around, I walked back to where I had been and looked back and forth between the white doors.

I suddenly heard another set of footsteps so I headed the other way—down a brightly lit hallway with Hollywood legends painted onto the walls.

I turned the corner and saw Melody Carter’s name etched in bright gold letters above a black door. There was no one sitting at the desk to the side of it, so I made my move.

I ran my fingers along her name before knocking.

“Come in Sophie!” she called.

I slipped inside and shut the door. The back of her chair was facing me.

She won’t even let her assistant see her face?

“Miss Carter? It’s Matt Sterling. We need to talk.”

The chair whirled around and there she was.

“You’re definitely not fat and ugly,” I took a step back.

“Excuse me?” she narrowed her eyes and for a moment I forgot what I was going to say. She was absolutely beautiful. Her red hair fell past her shoulders, her eyes were a soft green, and her lips— “I only meet with talented people Mr. Sterling,” she cut through my thoughts. “How’d you get past security?”

“I’m Matt Sterling. People actually know who I am.”

“You came here for an ego boost?” she smirked.

Oh my god she’s gorgeous…How old is she?

“No. I came here to talk about your shitty reviews.”

“That correspond with your shitty movies?”

“With all due respect, which is none, I don’t appreciate you taking your poor excuse for a life out on me. You trash me in every review and it’d be nice if for once, you said something amicable about homegrown talent.”

“Please don’t use yourself and talent in the same sentence, Mr. Sterling,” she stood up. “It’s an insult to those who actually possess it.”

“Ha! I have two other films coming out this—”

“I’m sorry to hear that. And I’m sorry if you were offended by my words. If you feel that they are slanderous or emotionally damaging in any way, feel free to voice your concerns to the complaints department on the twentieth floor. There’s also counseling on the seventh floor. Is that all?”

“No!” I said louder than I intended to.

“Oh?”

“I would appreciate an immediate apology…for your erratic and unprofessional review of every film I’ve been in over the past few years. In print. In next week’s paper.”

She laughed. “Or else?”

“Or else…I don’t have that part figured out yet but—”

“Mr. Sterling,” she walked over to the door and opened it. “Let me tell you what I would do if I were you right now. If I were Matt Sterling and I made fifteen million a movie—”

“Eighteen, sweetheart.”

Is she blushing?

“Eighteen million a movie. I wouldn’t give a rat’s ass what someone wrote about me and I would leave Melody Carter’s office before she called security.”

“And if I were you,” I knocked a huge vase of Skittles off her desk. “I would spend the rest of my afternoon picking those up.”

Chapter 7

Melody

I pulled a mini-vac out of my drawer and began extracting Skittles from the floor. I should have known it wasn’t Sophie. She was still running errands.

Why did it feel like Matt Sterling was checking me out? And why did I want him to take his shirt off?

I shook away the thought and rolled my eyes. I wished I could rewind our encounter, wished I could have been a little nicer. My sarcasm had never developed an off button, or a filter.

This is why no one ever wanted to take you out….besides Sean.

I slumped down to the floor and picked through the Skittles, tossing the yellow ones across the room. That was more fun than reading the stack of books I’d been assigned.

“Melody?” my sister walked into my office. “I come to bring you lunch and you’re eating Skittles off the floor?”

“Matt Sterling knocked them off my desk.”

“Matt Sterling?” she gasped. “Matt Sterling was here? Did you see his abs? Did you get his autograph?”

“Of course not.”

“What was he wearing?”

“Really Jen? He was wearing a three piece suit, a regular dark blue suit.”

“What about his hair? His eyes? Tell me everything!”

Matt Sterling was perfect, undeniably perfect. His dark smoldering eyes nearly pinned me to my seat. His short black hair fell loosely above his eyebrows—a part of me wanted to reach up and run my fingers through it, just to see if it was real. He was much taller than I was—something I didn’t realize until I stood up and opened the door. Although he had been wearing a suit, I could easily envision the chiseled chest that was trapped beneath it.

“I wasn’t really paying attention,” I stood up. “He looked like the character he plays in the movies.”

“Which character? The cute and charming executive? The I-would-sleep-with-you-in-a-heartbeat over the top sexy one? The hot bad boy with a soft side? The Oh-my-god-he’s-so-sexy-please-keep-your-shirt-off guy? Which one!”